WACC roundup: Berkeley, Encinal shut out opponents in WACC openers

The passing combination of Anthony McMath to Travis Dennis provided all the scoring for the Berkeley High football team in its 14-0 win over Hayward in the opening night of West Alameda County Conference play this season.

The physical game was deadlocked at zero until the third quarter at Berkeley

"(At halftime), we were talking about that we had to get on the board quick," Dennis said.

The Yellowjackets (3-3, 1-0 WACC-Foothill Division) drove 59 yards on their first possession of the second half to score on a 16-yard pass from McMath to Dennis. The drive lasted nearly four minutes.

McMath, starting his first varsity game at quarterback, connected with Dennis on a 60-yard touchdown pass with 9 minutes, 23 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Dennis then ran in a two-point conversion for a 14-0 lead.

Dennis finished with four catches for 101 yards. McMath completed seven of his 11 passes for 107 yards.

Defensively, Berkeley limited Hayward (0-6, 0-1) to 55 total yards in the first half and 74 in the game.

San Leandro 40, Castro Valley 20: Finau Mata'afa led a balanced running attack and Obrien Younger had a huge all-around performance as San Leandro opened up WACC-Foothill Division play with a win over Castro Valley at Burrell Field.

Mata'afa ran for a game-high 107 yards and a touchdown as the Pirates (2-4 overall) finished with 360 yards on the ground. Younger recorded three sacks, added 82 rushing yards on just four carries and scored a pair of first-quarter touchdowns on offense as San Leandro opened up a 13-0 lead in the first six minutes of the contest.

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Younger caught a 12-yard touchdown from Stephen Johnson on the Pirates' opening possession and then finished San Leandro's second drive with a 33-yard run to the end zone. The Trojans (1-5, 0-1) responded when Namane Modise returned the ensuing kickoff 99 yards to cut the Pirates' lead to 13-7.

Johnson connected with Keone Foumai for a 17-yard scoring play for a 20-7 advantage before Trojans quarterback Brenden Brown scored on a keeper from the 1 with 7:53 left in the half. The Pirates put the game away in the third when Ruben Garcia Ceja blasted his way for a 54-yard touchdown before Mata'afa scored from four yards out.

Modise ran for 75 yards on 13 carries to pace Castro Valley. The Trojans were done in by four lost fumbles.

-- Tony Gonsalez, correspondent

Encinal 7, Bishop O'Dowd 0: Isaiah Hunter scored the game's only touchdown with 4:03 left to lift the visiting Jets in this WACC-Foothill Division opener for both teams at Bishop O'Dowd.

Emily Rentschler kicked the extra point to complete the scoring as Encinal earned its fifth win of the season.

For the most part, defenses for both teams held in the clutch.

O'Dowd (1-5, 0-1 WACC-Foothill) advanced the ball to the Jets 3 early in the game, only to have a holding penalty stymie the threat and an interception end it.

Encinal (5-1, 1-0) also advanced the ball to its opponent's 3-yard line late in the first half only to have the Dragons' Bryce Grandison intercept a third-down pass to send the teams into halftime.

Yards ultimately were hard to come by for both teams, with the Jets finishing with 152 rushing yards to the Dragons' 122.

Grandison proved effective on both sides of the ball, as he led all rushers with 73 yards. Hunter had 66 for the Jets.

Passing was not a particularly effective method of moving the ball for either team as Encinal finished with 87 yards to O'Dowd's 50.

-- Mike McGreehan, correspondent

Shoreline Division

Piedmont 33, San Lorenzo 22: The Highlanders opened WACC-Shoreline Division play with a victory at home thanks to two second half touchdowns by receiver Atu Ohuafi.

Leading 26-16 with the bulk of the fourth quarter to go against a pesky San Lorenzo team, Ohuafi hauled in a 69-yard touchdown pass from Spencer Kim which provided Piedmont with enough breathing room down the stretch. Ohuafi had six receptions for 139 yards, including a 26-yard touchdown scamper to open the third quarter.

Piedmont (3-3, 1-0 WACC-Shoreline) took an early 9-0 first quarter lead by sacking San Lorenzo's quarterback in the end zone on the game's first play from scrimmage and then scoring on a 1-yard touchdown run by running back Gabe Watson on its ensuing possession.

San Lorenzo (2-4, 0-1) scored on a two-yard plunge by Erik Jasso and converted its two-point conversion to make the score 9-8 with 6:31 left before the half. A 38-yard field goal by Ale Chiodo gave Piedmont a 12-8 halftime lead.

Kim threw for 260 yards and three scores for the Highlanders.

-- Jim Bucci, correspondent

Alameda 20, Tennyson 13: The Hornets' Omar Badr scored the eventual winning touchdown with less than two minutes remaining, then visiting Alameda (4-2, 1-0 West Alameda County Conference-Shoreline) stopped the Lancers (3-3, 0-1) in the red zone for the victory at Sunset Field.

Badr's touchdown run was set up by a long pass from Sulaiman Hameed to Elijah Hernandez out of the Wildcat formation. Hameed also caught a touchdown pass from Hernandez in the third quarter as Alameda took a 14-0 lead.

But Tennyson scored two straight fourth-quarter touchdowns to cut Alameda's lead to 14-13 before Keelan Doss blocked the point-after-touchdown. Hernandez scored Alameda's first touchdown of the game on a run.